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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Friends, I have been wanting to share with you some free patterns. I keep on collecting many designs and patterns or motifs when ever I come across something interesting. But give me some time and I will post many of them. At present I am so busy as I have to finish my project by the end of this month. But I will make some time and post these motifs or designs for you.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I have been posting about laces and borders that can be attached to saris, dresses, chunaris etc. These are all the most in thing now. These days, many of the sarees, blouses, dresses like tunics(kurthas) and Pants, odhnis or chunaris etc have these borders or laces attached to them.

I am now going to post on some Butees to. Butees or embroidered Butees pronounced as booties are embroidered motifs.

These are available in circular, triangular, square or other shaped patches.

The size also varies from very tiny ones to very huge ones.

Available in different colours like gold, silver, copper or antique, red, yellow, pink, blue green depending upon the colour of the silk thread or kundan or stone used.

The work used in these may be, simple, silk or gold embroidery, Zardosi, Antique work, Kundan work etc.

These patches are done on stiff cloth and are very easy to attach to saris, blouses, kurthas etc. All we have to do is attach them in the required manner.

This saves lot of time and energy and we don't have to be experts of various embroideries. Moreover when embroidering directly on saris or some other clothing, even a small mistake will cost us a lot. The beauty of the entire work is lost.

These patches of various shapes and sizes can be used for creating our own designs or motifs on the cloth.

These patches can be attached to plain saris but these days they are being attached to even printed materials to enhance or high light their beauty.

These look good on almost any fabrics-cottons, chiffons, crepes especially silks.

These are available as number of pieces (bigger sized ones) and in packs of 25, 50 or 100 for smaller ones.

Price varies with the size and the material used in the patches. But most of them are affordable.

So here we go....

This is a small flower. See the gold work and the green coloured stone in the center.

See how on the back side it is backed by another cloth to give it stiffness as well as protects the stitches of the work. So it looks neat when attached to very sheer fabrics. These are available in different colours. I bought this as a pack of 50.

So what are you waiting for? Just pick up some of these.

Keep a watch on my blog for the latest trends and fashions... I am going to post more varieties of these and also laces and borders......

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Technology has reached nook and corners of our lives. Sometimes we cannot imagine how much its influence on our lives is. So many things have been made easy for us. Rangoli is also one of them. Ready to use or ready made Rangolis or sticker Rangolis are much in use. Those who cannot draw Rangolis or when there is no time to draw Rangolis like for some special Pooja or Marriages or ceremonies and we want to decorate our houses for some special occasions but don't have much time or energy, then Sticker Rangolis are the answer. They are cheap and easy to use.

Just take a look.

These are available in square and round shapes and various sizes. We also have long ones that can be used as borders. Various designs like the one above which is Chain Rangoli or known as Melika Muggu in Telugu is complicated and very intricate, other traditional designs like Kalash (Holy Pot), Swastika, Lotus, Shankh (Conch Shells), Peacocks, other birds, animals, floral designs and free hand designs are available. Some are very colourful.

If you look at the above design it is very big one if we actually draw it with hand. It looks so small here-that is compressed. Try drawing it on paper or floor and see. It will come out as a big design no matter how carefully we draw it.

Any way to use it all we have to do is clean the surface where we want to stick it. Then remove the paper at the back and just stick it carefully with out any wrinkles. The yellow colour you see is the colour of the paper at the back which has to be removed before use. Actually when we remove it, it is see through or transparent. So when we stick it, it looks as if we have drawn it, unless one looks at it carefully.

The advantages of this are:

They look beautiful and colourful

Its cheap. The price depends on the size-starting from Rs 5

Its easy to use does not take much time or effort.

Because of its transparent background, it looks as if drawn/painted on the surface unless one looks at it very closely

It keeps for long

One can clean it with a cloth or wash it gently but should not be scrubbed

However it has disadvantages too:

One has to be careful while sticking it. Any wrinkles or sticking it askew cannot be corrected

Dirt gets collect around and under its edges which is difficult to clean. So after some time it looks dirty.

After some time the edges come off the surface and cannot be again stuck. It starts peeling of in places. Specially if it is used in heavy traffic areas.

It is very difficult to remove. At least I have not been successful in removing it. When we try to remove it, it will come of in strips leaving some parts behind. Its real hard work to remove it off completely

This is how it looks after some time. But don't worry, it keeps good for a considerable period of time.

But all in all, people use it because its easy to use.

Oh by the way those who are using it, can tell me how to remove it easily. Any tips in this regard are welcome please. I have a problem in removing them cleanly and completely off the surface. I would be thankful to you if you can kindly share some tips with me.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Aha! My mom says that fashion is cyclical in nature. That is what was once a fashion some time back may go out of fashion. But it will again come back. For example the puffed sleeves for blouses were very much in fashion during late 60s. It came back into fashion after a gap. When the movie Devdas was released again puff sleeves became a rage since our beauty queen Aishwarya wore it in that movie.

Any way my mom's theory is correct. Remember the Velvet blouses? They were in fashion some time back-10 years or 15 years/ I don't remember. But now they are back with a bang. They are easy to wear ready-made, easy to wash and quite soft. They are available in all dark colours of pink, red blue green etc. But now they are also available in light shades of pink, Henna green, Sky blue etc. Apart from that they are also available in prints.

They can be teamed with many a sari as they are plain. If we are bored with the plain look we can always stitch, beads, gold thread, sequins, mirrors, silk or metallic threads. I brought a plain black one. Let us see i plan to use gold thread and gold sequins for embroidering on it.

Here is a glimpse of the plain blouse.

It was very difficult for me to photograph it because of its shine. So perhaps you cannot see the cut properly. I will try to take one more shot and post. I chose black since it goes well with many coloured saris.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Hi friends, I am very busy again. Travelling as usual and at a hectic phase. I am so tired but there is no way out. Actually I am not happy about my other two blogs where I am not able to post anything despite so much I want to. But that takes lot of time. Any way I can't do much now. With the continuous rains and all this I am tired. Weather forecast says, there would be yet another cyclone. Oh God! This year its raining like anything. But the water table, all our rivers, ponds lakes and other water bodies do require water. However, these rains and wet weather does put a damper on our daily chores like washing, cleaning and shopping. Well let us see what happens.

Its very difficult for a working person like me to maintain a blog. Apart from that, I have this urge for creativity in various media. Hmmm but that's what satisfies my soul.

So bear with me. When I am back I would like share with you all my Diwali celebrations, some lovely torans and much more. So keep an eye on my blog.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

I shopped for blouse for this sari and look what I found. It looks as if it is made for it. I don't think I could have got a better one than this.

The border I have attached has a Maroon colour (dark red) back ground with green and Zari(gold) thread work. The blouse has gold, green and red stripes which exactly match it. The cloth is Benarasi. It has a rich look which goes well with the richness of the tissue sari and its Zari border. I think its a perfect match.

Whats your opinion?

Still have some work to do on the sari. Will keep you posted. Keep watching.....

Well I could not post any of my Rangolis for Diwali-the festival of lights. The month that follows Diwali is known as Karthik and through out the month we light the earthen lamps, at least two of them and placed outside on either side of our door ways, or on the outer walls.

The full moon day known Karthika Pournima is celebrated through out India. The whole month is an auspicious time for spiritually interested people. So the Rangoli patterns with Diyas(lamps) will be apt for this month. But these can be used for any occassion. Fill it with colours and place some small candles or diyas to enhance the beauty of the Rangoli. Here is one of them:

This is 21 to 1 dots placed like this:

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That is straight dots, leaving one on either side on each row. This is easy. I am going to post some more in my coming posts. So keep an eye.Update:I have corrected the swastika for this Rangoli. This is the correct way to draw Swastika.Where ever I have drawn other wise please correct it. I am trying to update the rest of the designs too.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Actually I wanted to post so much. My net was down. Till the D-day I was travelling. The weather here was and still is quite wet and cold. we were not too sure that we would have a dry Diwali. It was very difficult for me. I could not shop earlier because of my hectic schedule and had to post pone it till the last moment. New clothes, flowers, provisions required for the special dishes prepared on the day, other things required for the pooja(prayers) and what not.

Every year my sister and her family, some of my relatives and friends come over to our house for the celebrations. The festive lunch, dinner and pooja everything has to be taken care of for around twenty to twenty five people. Its not like I can cook before hand and keep it in my fridge. Everything has to be fresh as we offer it to the Goddess Lakshmi. Some of the sweets and salty snacks are made a day or two in advance after our traditional bath and kept separately till they are required for the pooja. These are not touched till Diwali.

Boy its very difficult to go shopping as the festival nears. The roads are chocked with vehicles and people. The vendors occupy half of the roads and obstruct traffic. Where it takes half an hour to reach, it takes you at least two to three hours because this heavy jams. Well I had to buy the earthen ware lamps. Every year we buy new ones. Then i had to buy other things like crackers and many such things. I some how finished my shopping and went back home very late and tired.

It was back breaking Diwali as usual :) :)... But it went of smoothly except for some minor things. Oh got to go now. Time for me to cook the dinner. I will share details of my celebrations and lots and lots of other things in my next posts. So stay tuned....

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Well Diwali is very near now. This is a very important festival for us. Since we take much care to clean our houses and decorate, Rangoli also forms an integral part of it. here are some simple designs which signify the auspiciousness of the festival. I will try to post as many as I can for Diwali.

Here is one of them CONCH SHELL. A Conch shell known as Shankh(Hindi) or Shanku (Telugu) is considered to be an auspicious symbol and is supposed to bring, luck happiness and prosperity if placed in our Pooja(prayer) room and worshipped. So how about drawing one this Diwali to bring in lots of Good Luck? There are many Rangolis on Conch Shells. Here I am starting with a very simple one.

You can see the single motif first. That is 4 to 1 dots placed like this

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See the way I have drawn the single motif using these dots. I have developed on this single motif and drew the Rangoli with 12 to 1 dots. You can extend it further according to the availability of space.

In my next posts I will post some more of Conch Shell Rangolis and other Rangolis specially for Diwali. But I will keep them small and sweet-no complicated ones. :)

I promised you that I would post pictures of my sari after attaching the lace so here it is. Actually I bought a new sewing machine some time back. But with me being so busy, I just could not get acquainted with it.

This week end since it was raining heavily, me and my mom wanted to enjoy watching some good old black and white movies. The I thought I should try some sewing too. So I got to acquaint my self with my new machine while watching two of the oldies. Well it will take me some time to get perfection, as I don't get the time to sew quite often.

Anyway here it is.

I have one pink and gold tissue sari. To that I attached a frilled lace as edge and also stitched on an embroidered lace as border.

This is the pink and gold frilled lace matching my sari. Actually now I think I should have used a contrasting coloured lace instead.

Here I am attaching the lace to the top side (the last two meters of the sari near the pallu which shows when we wear it), on the edge of pallu and also on the other side (bottom) of the sari. I used the entire nine meters for it.

This is a yellow green embroidered lace on maroon back ground. It also had zari (gold thread) work as well as mirror work(no the glass mirrors). I used almost most of the nine meters.

Here is a closer look.

Well I attached this lace as a border. This how it looked.

The sari looks like this.

I still have to stitch something else on it. Just wait and see I will post again. Please do let me know how it looks.